Case Number 06526

TO BE AND TO HAVE

The Charge

"Last year, the children of an isolated village, in the heart of
Auvergne, made their school teacher...an international celebrity."

Opening Statement

This film is a beautiful, real-life portrait of schoolteacher in the south of
France. It paints its picture without using the voices of the director or the
characters, but by letting life unfold on screen. The greatness of the
schoolteacher's ability is undeniable. The greatness of the film, however, is
the question at hand.

Facts of the Case

Grade school is an experience that is almost universal throughout the
developed world. While educational systems may vary from place to place, most
people have favorite teachers that they remember -- teachers who taught them
more than anyone else; who seemed to care like few others did. Georges Lopez is
one of those teachers. This film is the story of a year in his classroom.

The Evidence

One of the mantras of introductory-level creative writing classes has long
been "Don't tell me; show me." The need for this phrase arises out of
the tendency of inexperienced writers to list things that happen in a story, or
to list the traits of the characters, instead of allowing the action in and the
environment of the story to reveal these things over time. Most great stories
let the details speak for themselves; most great films do too.

One of the most obvious exceptions to this generalization is documentary
film. Documentaries are different from most films, in that they often don't
create stories on screen for the viewer; instead, they retell stories that have
already happened. In doing so, they are often forced to tell much of the story
instead of showing it. They are full of narrators and interviewees who explain
the story and its intricacies for everyone who is watching. With To Be and to
Have, however, director Nicholas Philibert chooses to follow more
traditional storytelling methods, showing everything and telling very little. It
is this approach that triggers the film's biggest strengths -- and its biggest
weaknesses.

To Be and to Have follows teacher Georges Lopez and his 13 students
throughout Lopez's last year in the classroom. The children range in age from
three to eleven. Watching the film, the kids' personalities take center stage.
Jojo, one of the younger kids whose face graces the DVD cover, is quickly
recognizable. He is always striving to be the center of attention. Many other
personalities are there as well. The viewer learns to recognize them; Monsieur
Lopez has to deal with them.

What this film presents is actual footage of Lopez in the classroom,
teaching his students. Only for three minutes, about an hour into the film, does
Lopez directly address the camera. Other than this, Philibert and his crew are
like one giant fly on the wall, observing Lopez and his students in the
classroom, and the students and their families in their homes. The scenes from
the students' homes provide the viewer with an interesting glimpse into the
rural French lives of the children. The classroom scenes provide the heart of
the film: a glimpse of the incredible everyday task of not only controlling all
of the distinct personalities in the room, but also of teaching the young human
beings who possess them.

The beauty of To Be and to Have is found in the ease and patience
with which Lopez seems to handle this difficult task of teaching all of these
students at once. Ask any teacher, and he or she can easily describe the amount
of work that goes in to teaching 30 students one thing. Few would be able
to speak to the work that must go into simultaneously teaching 13 students 13
individual lessons. Lopez seems to do it effortlessly. Certainly his years of
teaching the same tasks to different students have helped to prepare him for
this, but one must assume that there is still significant planning and work
outside of the classroom that goes into making sure he is ready for each
day.

Lopez takes conflicts between students and the everyday setbacks of learning
in stride. One can tell that the students respect Lopez, as do the parents who
visit the school. Ultimately, the viewer does too. The emotional attachments
between the instructor and his pupils are obvious. There is also an obvious
attachment of the instructor to his profession. Beyond emotional attachment,
there is a genuine talent; a capacity for teaching that first-year teachers only
dream about.

In the end, Lopez's talent is the central character of the film, but the
supporting cast -- the students, the parents, Lopez himself -- are what get your
attention and draw you in. Whether the film itself will keep your attention is
another question entirely. It has already been established that only three
minutes of this more than 100 minute film is comprised of someone on screen
actually doing something directed toward the camera or for the benefit of those
watching the film. These are the three minutes in which Georges Lopez tells the
story of his family and how he got into teaching. The rest of the film is just
footage of normal days, presumably the way they would have transpired were there
no cameras present. In other words, nothing extraordinary happens!

In choosing to construct his film this way -- to show the audience
everything and to tell them practically nothing -- Nicholas Philibert failed to
convey one very important thing: the point. The beauty in the film is obvious,
as is the beauty in the children and in Lopez' teaching. One must assume,
however, that this simple beauty will not be enough to compel most people to
watch this film more than once.

The film seems to lack a broader purpose or relevance. Certainly, there is a
nobility to making a film about the smaller things in life; about the beauty of
the mundane. If Philibert's intent was to capture the work of a master teacher
and preserve it for posterity (as the fact that one of the copyright holders on
the back of the DVD is the French National Center of Pedagogical Documentation
would seem to suggest), then he has succeeded. He has more than succeeded; he
has created a beautiful product. If Philibert's intent was something greater, it
gets lost in the storytelling, or the lack thereof. Either way, there is little
here to bring viewers back a second time.

The DVD presentation of To Be and to Have is respectable. Both the
video and audio serve their purpose cleanly and with little fanfare. The film is
presented in an anamorphic widescreen transfer accompanied by its original mono
French soundtrack. The film looks good, as it should, and the mono soundtrack
clearly conveys the dialogue and ambient sounds that are the only pertinent
information on the track.

As far as extras, there are a few of interest. First and most substantial is
a twenty-minute interview with director Nicholas Philibert. He waxes
philosophical on documentary filmmaking, he describes why he selected Lopez's
classroom, and he discusses some of the scenes from the movie and the parallels
he intended to draw between herding cattle and teaching children. In all, it's
an interesting interview, if a little self-indulgent.

Next up is montage of students from the film reciting poetry for their class
and for the cameras. It's done to mixed effect, with some students having an
easier time than others, but it proves mildly entertaining to watch. It's full
of those cute moments that draw you to the kids in the first place.

Also included are the French theatrical trailer, the US theatrical trailer,
and trailers for four other New Yorker Films DVD releases: Komediant,
My Father and I, Tycoon, and The Son.

Closing Statement

In the end, my mixed feelings about this film are obvious. It is beautiful;
but it is beautiful in the way that a painting in a museum viewed out of
historical and social context might be beautiful. I can appreciate it for what
it is, but having seen it, I see no compelling reason to return just to see it
again. To Be and to Have is certainly worth seeing -- if you have the
patience to watch real life unfold on screen -- but it's a film that few will
want to own.

The Verdict

Monsieur Lopez and his students are acquitted of all charges, though the
director is asked to provide compelling evidence why the court should consider
revisiting his case. Finally, New Yorker Films is guilty of the unnecessary
Anglicization of Mr. Lopez's name. It's "Georges" not
"George"! Case dismissed!